China consolidates media regulation under Party publicity dept

The party publicity body will take on powers previously held by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which was dissolved earlier this month as part of a wider reshuffle.

The reorganization would mean the publicity department would play a “special and important role in propaganda ideology and cultural entertainment”, the Communist Party’s Central Committee was quoted as saying in a notice dated March 19.

The media shake-up, confirmed by the official Xinhua news agency, signals tighter media control amid a broad crackdown on news, online content and film, Reuters noted.

The shift also comes as China looks to merge ministries and create new regulators overseeing matters from banking to food safety in the biggest government shake-up in years.

As part of those efforts, China has approved the creation of new broadcaster called “Voice of China”, which will consolidate several existing state TV and radio stations including China Central Television, China Global Television Network, China National Radio and China Radio International.

The central government notice said that the newly created broadcaster, which will report directly to the publicity department, will “guide hot social issues, boost multimedia integration and development, strengthen international communication, and tell good China stories”.

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